News & Press

18 Jul 2017 Editorial Dear partners, dear friends, It is my pleasure to bring you the latest edition of the Watch This newsletter! This issue will give you the latest on the international climate negotiations. Our first article comes back on the latest UNFCCC intersession, which took place last May in Bonn, focusing specifically…

18 Jul 2017 Climate negotiations, both at the EU and at the international level, have come at a crucial point regarding the role of the land sector to global emission reductions, which could “make or break” the Paris Agreement objective. An effective accounting system for land use emissions is crucial. Now is the time for…

The EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has contributed to this broken food and farming system through the promotion of agro-industrial farming methods and global commodity chains. In order to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and its obligations under the Paris Climate Agreement, the EU must carry out a radical reform of the CAP and…

This week key policymakers of the European Parliament discuss the EU’s largest climate instrument. Ahead of the debate, five organizations expose how a loophole in the law could significantly increase the costs of post-2030 climate efforts by delaying the required emission reductions in the agriculture sector. The Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR) covers around 60% of…

Forests and land-use remain a contentious issue in climate negotiations but are an essential part of many countries’ climate pledges. The sector should be used as an additional climate tool, not as an excuse to reduce ambition in others. At the UN climate conference in Marrakesh, discussions on land use remained gridlocked because of the…

The Swedish Energy Agency (SEA) has faced criticism for purchasing CDM carbon credits from a tree plantation project at Kachung, Uganda. The SEA signed a 20 year (2012-2032) purchase agreement with Norwegian company Green Resources, but later suspended payments due to problems with the project. In March 2016 the SEA announced that it would not…

CLICK THE RED BUTTON TO JOIN THE AVIATION TWITTER THUNDERCLAP ON SEPTEMBER 27TH Carbon Market Watch have launched a global online campaign to raise awareness on the upcoming ICAO deal, that is crucial for the climate but not known by the large public and to show airlines, a fundamental ICAO influencer, as well as governments, the decision makers,…

Land use remained a contentious topic at the Paris climate summit this December with onlookers wondering how land and its capacity to absorb carbon would be incorporated into the final agreement. While initial worries about the treatment of land in the Paris Agreement were ironed out in the final agreement, the development of rules and modalities in the coming years will need to permanently close doors to using the land to offset continued fossil fuel use.

Land-use has always been a tricky subject, complicated even more by the fact that countries are putting land use into their INDCs, without clear measures and accounting rules. If, as with some parties, accounting rules hide CO2 released when harvesting, emissions will go unnoticed and the true amount of emission reductions achieved by land activities…

One of the reasons climate change is so difficult to address is the sheer range of sources and sectors that contribute to the problem. Some policies and measures are targeted to address certain sources, but one of the perceived advantages of carbon markets is that they allow a number of sources to be bundled under…